Google Street View Covers Baltic Nations (in part)

As reported at Google Lat Long Blog in
Visit the Baltic nations of Estonia and Latvia with Street View

"You can now virtually visit the Baltic States ... using the Street View feature in Google Maps."

Riga is the 2014 European Capital of Culture

The Official Latvian Tourism Portal has the story at

Riga will become the European Capital of culture in 2014.

Riga, Latvia Hosts 18th Annual International Conference on Innovation from Wednesday 11 September 2013 to Friday 13 September 2013

See 18th Annual International Conference on Innovation (Riga, Latvia).

Estonian SMU DE Margus Hunt Puts up Amazing Football Stats

Estonian Margus Hunt puts up amazing stats for SMU football and perhaps for all college or pro football players period.

See Sigmund Bloom at Bleacher Report in SMU DE Margus Hunt Will Be the Story of the 2013 NFL Combine and a Top 10 Pick.

The Baltic Languages and Legal Translators and Interpreters in the United Kingdom

The United Kingdom (UK) has taken an ill-advised course to save fees previously paid to language translators and interpreters in court, a policy which will probably ultimately cost society more money than it is saving.

You simply can not rely on machine translation or amateurs for legal matters.

Qualified translators and interpreters have always been and still are the only viable solution.

As it is, translators and interpreters are poorly paid nearly everywhere already so that trying to cut their fees even more is ridiculous.

No justice that way -- for anyone.

See the story by Lina Balsyte at

British judges, Lithuanian defendants, and Google Translate



Posting adapted from LawPundit.

Baltic Leads New Travel Destinations in 2012

Happy New Year! Where is 2012 to take us?
There is an unmistakable trend at Tripadvisor.com
in 15 destinations on the rise
but we have no idea what is behind it:

You've been there, right?

It is VERY UNLIKELY that you have traveled to ALL the fifteen places that TripAdvisor.com currently lists as "Destinations on the Rise":

1. Tallinn, Estonia
2. Riga, Latvia
3. Moscow, Russia
4. Zurich, Switzerland
5. Fethiye, Turkey
6. Seminyak, Indonesia
7. Vilnius, Lithuania
8. Austin, TX
9. Chania Town, Greece
10. Chaweng, Thailand
11. Bordeaux, France
12. San Sebastian - Donostia, Spain
13. Lyon, France
14. Essaouira, Morocco
15. Mendoza, Argentina

Pan-Baltic Law Firms : Latvia Lithuania Estonia

James Swift at The Lawyer in The Baltic triangle writes about law and pan-Baltic law firms in Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia. He observes, inter alia, that:

"Rightly or wrongly, the Baltic States - Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania - are viewed as one. With a combined population of less than seven million it is no surprise; and for investors, entering into one Baltic country is usually a prelude to entry into the others.

The effect of this has been that, over the past five years, law firms with ambition have increasingly felt pressure to align ­themselves with firms in neighbouring states to show the unity and reach that international investors expect."

Read the entire quite lengthy and informative article.